Unveiling polarized emission from interstellar dust of the Large Magellanic Cloud with Planck

TL;DR

This study maps the polarized emission from interstellar dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud using Planck data, revealing magnetic field structures aligned with gas features and comparing polarization properties with the Milky Way.

Contribution

It introduces a method to separate LMC dust polarization from foreground Milky Way contamination using velocity gradients and polarization data, providing a comprehensive polarization map of the LMC.

Findings

Magnetic field geometry follows atomic gas structures in the LMC.

Polarization fraction in the LMC is slightly lower than in the Milky Way.

Distribution of polarization fraction is similar to that of the Milky Way.

Abstract

Polarization of interstellar dust emission is a powerful probe of dust properties and magnetic field structure. Yet studies of external galaxies are hampered by foreground dust contribution. The aim of this study is to separate the polarised signal from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) from that of the Milky Way (MW) in order to construct a wide-field, spatially complete map of dust polarization using the Planck 353 GHz data. To estimate the foreground polarization direction, we used velocity gradients in HI spectral line data and assessed the performance of the output by comparing to starlight extinction polarization. We estimate the foreground intensity using dust properties derived previously from the Planck data and we assume the foreground polarization to be uniform and equal to the average of the MW around the galaxy. After foreground removal, the geometry of the plane-of-the-sky magnetic field in the LMC tends to follow the structure of the atomic gas in the LMC. This is notably the case along the molecular ridges extending south and south-east of the 30 Doradus star-forming complex, and along more diffuse southern arm extending towards the Small Magellanic Cloud. There is also an alignment between the magnetic field and the outer arm in the western part. The median polarization fraction in the LMC is slightly lower than that observed for the MW while the anti-correlation between the polarization angle dispersion function and the polarization fraction is slightly larger. Overall, polarization fraction distribution is similar to that observed in the MW.